As allegorical figures, the sheep stand in for the massive propaganda machine that Stalin set up as he came to power in Russia. Yet they might also be taken to represent the masses that were all too easily swayed by that same propaganda. The sheep’s adherence to simplistic slogans and repetition seems to destroy any possibility of independent thought, and allows Napoleon to fool the rest of the animals over and over again. For this reason, the sheep seem to be a commentary on the very nature of propaganda: it is not clear where propaganda begins and ends, but those who take it in unthinkingly and continue to spread it become part of the totalitarian regime, whether or not they realize it.
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